THE present
by Urban Silver
Summary: Our favorite black cat has a problem that bothers him very much. And the only problem that ever bothers him are the ones that involves Mikan!


Natsume had a problem. It's almost New Years and that means only one thing.

Mikan's birthday.

And for the life of him, he didn't know what to get her.

"Why don't you just confess to her?" Ruka asked, sensing his best friend's dilemma. Natsume wouldn't tell Ruka about his problems outright, no he had too much pride for that, but he had been frustrated for about a week, setting random things on fire, half of which was Mikan's hair.

Natsume simply glared at him. Ruka continued on, unfazed,"I mean for how long have you liked her now? Four, five years? C'mon Natsume, she's almost 15, how long do you plan to just stare at her?"

Natsume knew Ruka was right, although he wouldn't say it, but it just wasn't that simple. What he and Mikan had was a special bond; a bond that he wouldn't risk breaking because of some feelings that she may not feel the same way about. No, he decided, he wouldn't risk that.

Ruka sighed at his friend's inability to be social and decided that there's no point in trying to talk him in to confessing. Not that he and Imai wouldn't try.

"Fine, after class ends I'll go with you to Central Town ok?" Natsume merely nodded his head.

* * *

"Why does she try to torture me like this?" Natsume cried out, making some of the younger kids scamper away. This was their tenth store and he had found nothing that he wanted to get Mikan.

"She doesn't," Ruka replied, "you're just being difficult. Any one of those things in the shop would have been fine. You know she likes anything cute."

"But I don't want it to be just 'anything', I want it to be special." Natsume blushed, having unveiled too much. Ruka only smiled.

"C'mon then, lets go look again."

When the sun had started to set and they went to almost every store in Central Town, the boys gave up their search. Natsume was a bit worried, her birthday was in two days, and he still doesn't have anything. _Maybe I should just confess, _he thought, but his eye caught something that was at a display window.

_Perfect._

* * *

It was the day of her birthday and everyone was throwing her a party at Hotaru's room. As he was walking to it, he realized that he had another problem. _How _he was going to give her the present. After going through several scenarios in his head, he decided to just bring her to their Sakura tree.

* * *

He had to wonder how a stupid dense girl like her, could possibly make him tough tied, but she did. So he faced another crisis. _Damn, why does she make it so hard? _He asked himself as he looked at her beautiful questioning face. Sometimes he wondered if this was all worth it. "Here," he said lamely, holding out her present. He could practically feel his heart melting as her face light up.

"Oh Natsume, thank you!" and she smiled at him, a smile that never fails to brighten his world, _his _smile.

"Hn," he replies.

Mikan opens the tiny box and gasps at what's inside.

"Oh my gosh Natsume, its beautiful." She whispers pulling out a silver necklace, studded with small jewels, with a small hollow charm at the end.

"It's a Stone Necklace," he tells her, "it can hold any Alice stone you want." Her face lights up again as she digs in her pockets and brings out a small pouch. From it she gets out an Alice stone. A _**red**_Alice stone. He stared as she puts the stone and the charm together, and with a click his stone is not together with the necklace.

She smiles shyly, "Can you put this on for me?" she asks. Natsume nods as he goes behind her and clasps on the necklace. Hearing the click, Mikan turns around and hugs him. "Thank you so much Natsume. This is the best gift I have ever gotten." She smiles and gives him a kiss on the cheek.

He has to cover his face with his hair as the walk back to the party, to make sure that she doesn't see the bright blush that's on his face. No matter how much trouble he went through to get just one gift, he couldn't help but feel like the happiest guy in the world.

_Maybe she is worth it. _

**Whew dooone! It doesnt look as long as it did on paper, but that all right. Hope you enjoyed. Its was the best, I know, but i think its pretty cool. So please review! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**


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